HOW TO NURTURE GREAT MANAGERS
TO PARTNER YOUR HR PROGRAM
A program driven by the CEO and enabled by the human resource department cannot take-off; if the line managers do not invest in the belief that PEOPLE ARE THE STRATEGIC PARTNERS for the success of any business. I have seen so many HR managers lament; that the good intentions and the best of initiatives are nullified; by the indifferent if not the callousness of the line managers . So any strategic plan to build a great company must first be started by creating managers, who are believers in the company motto, that a great workplace begins with great managers.
WHAT GREAT MANAGERS BELIEVE
1.
Great Managers believe that people are innately
good. Without this core belief and faith in people, great management is not
possible.
2.
Great Managers believe they do not work on their
people, they work with them; they enable and empower them.
3.
Great Managers believe that “empowerment” comes
from within, and has more to do with self-motivation and innate talent than
with the acceptance of authority. They get their cues from the person,
not from the task or process.
4.
Great Managers believe that all people have
strengths which can be made stronger, and that their weaknesses can be
compensated for to become irrelevant.
5.
Great managers , do not believe they
train people, they believe they help people learn by
providing their best inputs.( Great Managers
believe they coach and mentor people, and
they love doing so — not “like,” love.)
6.
Great Managers believe that the people they manage
are more than capable of creating a better future. They hold great faith and
trust in the four-fold human capacities of physical ability, intellect,
emotion, and spirit.
7.
Great Managers believe in the power of
positive, affirmative thinking, and they have a low tolerance for negativity.
They are confident and eternal optimists.
8.
Great Managers believe it is their job to remove
barriers and obstacles so people can attain the level of greatness they are
destined for. They believe that “can’t” is a temporary state of affairs, and
that everything is only impossible until the first person does it.
9.
Great Managers believe that their legacy will
be in the other people they have helped to achieve worthwhile
and meaningful goals. They believe that success is measured in people who
thrive and prosper.
What are the observed behaviours of Great Managers
Just as there is a need to develop a leadership pipeline and succession planning in the HR strategic plan for organisation development; it is
equally important that HR department verbalizes and propagates behaviours of
"GREAT" Great Managers. As part of the appraisal process many would
need a direct and blunt feedback if their attitude is lukewarm and their
behaviours even damaging. Some would need training and counselling and in extreme cases relocation to a less sensitive position where managing people is less
critical. You cannot have a manager disinclined to accept and practice "
people are our strategic partners" motto in a place where team climate is
critical
So let us develop the profile of a ideal PEOPLE ORIENTED MANAGER ( so we
know where to begin)
GREAT MANAGERS... Enjoy helping people grow.
Few things feel better than helping someone who is new to a role, or who has
been struggling, into becoming a productive, confident person. There’s a kind
of satisfaction in helping someone figure out how to be successful that doesn’t
come from many other living experiences. Great mangers love seeing this happen
on their teams.
· GREAT
MANAGERS...Love creating positive environments. A great manager creates
a team and and office environment that makes it easy for smart people to do
good things. They love that moment when they wander the halls and see all sorts
of amazing things happening all on their own, with passionate, motivated people
doing good work without much involvement from the manager.
· GREAT
MANAGERS...Want to correct mistakes inflicted on them. Some great
managers are looking to undo the evil managers they had. Rather than take it
out on their subordinates, they want to do a kind of pay it forward revenge:
prove to themselves and the world that it can be better that what happened to
them in the past. This can create the trap of fighting the last war: your team
may not care at all about avoiding the mistakes of your previous manager. They
want to avoid the mistakes you, and your blind spots, are probably making right
now.
· GREAT
MANAGERS...Care deeply about the success and well being of their team.
Thoroughbred horses get well cared for. Their owners see them as an expensive
asset and do whatever they can to optimize their health, performance, and
longevity, even if their motivations are largely selfish. A great manager cares
deeply about their staff, and goes out of his way to protect, train, care for,
and reward their own team, even if their primary motivation is their own
success.
· GREAT MANAGERS...
have the Succession mentality. A successful manager
eventually realizes their own leadership will end one day, but if they teach
and instill the right things into people who work for them, that philosophy can
live on for a long time, long after the manager is gone. This can go horribly
wrong but the desire to have a lasting impact generally helps people think on
longer term cycles and pay attention to wider trends short term managers do not
notice.
· GREAT
MANAGERS... Long term sense of reward. Many of the mistakes
managers make involve reaping short term rewards at the expense of long term
loyalty and morale. Any leader who inverts this philosophy, and makes short
term sacrifices to provide long term gains, will generally be a much better
manager. They recognize the value of taking the time to explain things, to
build trust, to provide training, and to build relationships, all of which
results in a kind of team performance and loyalty the short term manager never
believes is possible.
· GREAT
MANAGERS...Practice the golden rule. It’s funny how well
known this little gem is, and rare in life people follow it. But I think anyone
in power who believes in it, and treats all of their employees the same way
they truly would want to be treated, or even better, treats employees as they
actually want to be treated, will always be a decent, above average manager. A
deeply moral person can’t help but do better than most people, as treating
people with respect, honesty and trust are the 3 things I suspect most people
wish they could get from their bosses.
· GREAT MANAGERS...
are Self aware, including weaknesses.
This is the kicker. Great leaders know what they suck at, and either work on
those skills or hire people they know make up for
their own weaknesses, and empower them to do so. This tiny little bit of
self-awareness makes them open to feedback and criticism to new areas they need
to work on, and creates an example for movement in how people should be growing
and learning about new things.
GREAT MANAGERS... Sets tone of healthy
debate and criticism. If the boss gives and takes feedback well, everyone else
will too. If the boss is defensive, passive-aggressive, plays favorites, or
does other things that work against the best idea winning, everyone else will
play these destructive games. Only a boss who sees their own behavior as a
model the rest of the organization will tend to follow can ever become a truly
great manager. Without this, they will always wonder why the team behaves in
certain unproductive ways that are strangely familiar.
· GREAT
MANAGERS...Willing to fight, but picks their battles. Great managers
are not cowards. They are willing to stake their reputation and make big bets
now and then (I’d say at least once a year, as a totally random, put possibly
useful stake in the ground). However they are not crazy either. They are good
at doing political math and seeing which battle is worth the fight at a given
time. A manager that never fights can never be great – they will never have
enough skin in the game to earn the deepest level of respect of the people that
work for them. But a manager that always fights is much worse. They continually
put their own ego ahead of what their team is capable of.
CONCLUDING
Remember that those who are under your supervision are the backbone of
your company. Treat them with respect and dignity. The Law of Mutual Exchange
demands that you do. When you pick up one end of the stick, you get the
opposite end also..
Long year of trial and error shoud make you realize that every employee
is a never ending, vast supply of human potential. Tap the supply while
opportunity is ripe. Every human being is a diamond in the rough waiting to be
brought to full brilliance. As a GREAT manager, you must help to develop every
facet until the whole person emerges. Every person is a unique individual. Find
that uniqueness and tap into it. Develop it to its full potential, your first
priority is to be a GREAT teacher. A GREAT manager is one who others will want
to follow. Not because he is their manager, but because of what he stands
for.
That’s why managers matter, and why people management is the core of
every organisations success DNA
With best
compliments
DR WILFRED MONTEIRO
www.synergymanager.net
